Butte-Silver Bow County hired Kelley Christensen as its new recreation event coordinator, a move that merges festival coordination with parks and recreation responsibilities.
Christensen will leave her job as a Montana Standard reporter for the new position in November.
“It’s really designed to do all of our programming elements,” county Parks and Recreation Director Jay Ellington said, from festival planning to overseeing youth sports programs.
Until a few months ago, many of the festival duties were handled through a contract the county had with Mainstreet Uptown Butte. The county paid the private organization $36,000, which it used to pay the festival coordinator.
That post was held for several years by Josh Peck, but officials decided to create a separate county position this year that combined the festival responsibilities with efforts to expand recreational programs through the parks division.
Christensen beat out three other finalists for the job and was chosen in a unanimous vote by a search committee that included county employees, a public school district employee and an employee for the U.S. Forest Service. She’ll make $36,000 a year, plus benefits.